Wwii Veteran And Businessman Martin Silverman Dies
June 5th, 2008, 4:20 pm Hobby Shops
Martin Silverman, a World War II veteran who returned home to start a moving business that brought New York City families to a young Levittown and went on to own two Long Island hobby shops, has died. He was 86.
On April 9, 1944, on their only mission without Silverman, eight members of his Army Air Forces crew were killed when their B-17 bomber plane, Winged Fury, was shot down over the Baltic Sea by German fighters.
“He lived with a lot of guilt, as to why he survived and why they didn’t,” said Sidney Silverman, of Merrick, the son named after his father’s comrades.
After the war, Martin Silverman founded Levittown Movers in 1945, a three-truck operation that moved many families to Levittown and other young Long Island communities. Silverman settled in East Meadow in 1951.
He sold the moving company and in 1963 started Eastli Hobby Shop in Massapequa with his wife, running it until 1974. Two years later, they opened South Shore Hobby Shop in Bay Shore and ran it until 1983.
In 1984, Silverman retired to Deltona, Fla. In his golden years, Silverman maintained his work ethic, volunteering with Meals On Wheels, the public school and library. In 2001, he moved to Flushing.
Silverman also is survived by sons Joseph Silverman, of Brooklyn, and Gerald Silverman, of upstate Ballston Lake; seven grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
Tags: army air forces, b 17 bomber, ballston lake, city families, east meadow, german fighters, grandchildren, Hobby, Hobby Shop, Hobby Shops, island communities, joseph silverman, lake seven, levittown, martin silverman, massapequa, meals on wheels, war ii veteran, winged fury, work ethicRelated posts
